


House Rules

by wonderfulmax90



Category: TikTok - Fandom
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, No Sleep Inspired, ed mention, inspired by a tiktok, large cast of characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulmax90/pseuds/wonderfulmax90
Summary: Never, ever break the rules.That's what Alice Winter should have stuck by when she rented the Airbnb for her and sixteen other friends for their summer vacation in Los Angeles. But vacations don't always go as planned and soon, the friends start experiencing the consequences of breaking those rules. Will she and her friends make it out alive or will they fall victim to the house rules?Based on the TikTok series by jbirxd





	1. One

Alice had always been ordinary. She had always known that she would follow in the path of her mother and father. Those who were more inclined to take the road of least resistance. Her mother was a lawyer like her mother and father before her. Alice’s father was a doctor like his father and mother before him. She wasn’t too happy to be falling down into the rabbit hole of her friends blatant defiance of social norms but it wasn’t like she couldn’t say no to them. Not when it was the last time she would see them before they all left the town and went off to college. She would stay home and go to the same college her mother went to. 

She would have to keep packing if she were to make it through the summer in LA. Even if it was only two months, Violet had made sure that their summer would be jam packed with fun. Complete with nights out and non-stop partying. That was the way of Violet, always trapped inside of the small town that they had lived in and always wanting to get out. There was nothing that could stop Alice from keeping them in the town either. It would have been selfish to keep them in a town that wanted nothing to do with ‘their kind’. 

Alice’s white room wasn’t sullied by dirt. Though her colorful clothes littered the pure white place. Only a few outfits had really been packed but it’s not like she wasn’t almost done. She turned to the closet that had been almost emptied through Alice’s own packing. She had only packed two suitcases which was surprisingly low for a trip of this size but she shook her head to get rid of any thoughts of underpacking. 

Alice’s phone rang, breaking her away from her thoughts. She picked it up as fast as she could as soon as she saw who was calling. “Vi! How are you?”

“I have an emergency.” Violet’s silky smooth voice came over the phone. “I only have like...five outfits planned.”

“Isn’t that enough?” Alice chuckled as she looked over her multiple outfits already knowing what the answer was already going to be. 

“I need you to come over,” Violet paused. “Please.” 

“Let me finish packing over here first, okay? I need just a few more things.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you too,” Alice smiled. “See you soon.”

“Who was that?” 

Alice jumped in her spot, turning around to face her mom. She was like a fucking model. Tall, skinny, long black hair and striking blue eyes. Her cheekbones were high and sharp with the perfect amount of highlighter. Her pantsuits were always perfectly tailored. A modern day Morticia Addams. She moved like she was gliding across the floor. Alice didn’t resemble her mother at all. Not inheriting striking features. 

“You scared me,” Alice placed a hand on her chest, looking over at her mother who glided into the room. 

“You didn’t answer me,” Alice's mom pointed to the phone. “Who was that?”

“Violet,” Alice’s mom sneered. While not one of the openly and actively transphobic people in her town, she definitely didn’t like the fact that Alice hung around ‘those people’. “They want me to come over and help them pick out some outfits for our trip.”

“Are you sure you still want to go?” She tucked a piece of hair behind Alice’s ear. Her sickly sweet perfume entered Alice’s nose, forcing her to turn away for a moment to get some fresh air.

“Yes mom.” Alice smiled sweetly at her mother. “I do still want to go.”

_ Just to see if I would be missing anything if I decide to stay here.  _ Alice looked over at the clock in her room. Four thirty in the afternoon. She had already been packing for nearly the entire day and she still wasn’t done yet. Alice backed away from her mother. 

“I don’t like you being out there with all those....people.” Alice’s mom sneered, just as wintery as their last name. “They’re a bad influence on the mind.”

“They’re all normal people like you and me.” Alice shrugged and finished packing up her suitcase. “There’s no reason for any of us to hate them. I just wish you could see that.” 

“Humph.” Alice’s mom turned on her heel, stopping in the doorway. “Don’t mind the messy room. The maid will get it. Call me when you get to the house.”

Alice still picked up her room as she turned back to her own thoughts. It wasn’t like she didn’t appreciate the maid that came and did housework that Alice was so privileged not to do, but she wasn’t going to make the poor person’s life harder just because her mom said so. Alice turned on her heel, walking down the stairs with keys in her hand and bag on her shoulder. She wouldn’t need to take the suitcase down just yet. Even if she was leaving early in the morning, she was sure that she would be back in her bed by sun up. 

Alice walked into the huge garage, huge and very empty for only having three cars. Her father had wanted to buy more but there wasn’t enough money right now. Not like Alice cared. They didn’t need more cars. They were lucky enough to have three when most families here only had one, if that. The white car on the end was hers. A less flashy Jeep Wrangler that she had bought with her summer job money. 

Alice set off into the already low sun, dust kicking up behind her as she made the trek twenty minutes out of town and into the farmlands. It didn’t hurt all that much to leave the house that seemed so completely constricting. Her eyes drifting over to the rearview mirror to take a look at the dusty road behind her. 

Alice stopped at a weather worn house with a broken porch and stepped out of her pristine car. There wasn’t much of the house now that the farming jobs had all dried up and most of the land was being bought to make more houses and get more people to come in and live there. The middle of nowhere wouldn’t be much of that for long.

Alice kicked up some dirt as she headed up to the porch and was careful to make sure that she didn’t poke a hole through the rotting wood. The wooden door flung open just as Alice lifted her hand up to knock. Violet stood there positioned in front of the door. Violet’s light grey eyes were wide in panic. Their black bob was frizzy and frazzled. Their black dress hiked up over their thighs as if they had just been on their knees. 

“Hurry up, my dad’s going to be home any minute and I don’t want him seeing what I’m packing for tomorrow.” 

Violet grabbed her wrist and yanked her up the stairs and into their room, placing Alice down on their bed with a smile. Their chest heaved as they turned around to their closet and pulled out an outfit in a rush, not giving Alice any time to catch up with herself and Violet’s abrupt pace. 

“Ow,” Alice rubbed her wrist and looked at the redness bubbling up to the surface. “That really hurt.”

Posters from glam metal and classic rock bands lined Violet’s room. There was not a single piece of the blue wallpaper that had once lined the walls to be seen. David Bowie posters were the most prominent ones on the walls. Elton John being the second. Third were some goth bands that Alice couldn’t read the names of. Violet’s bed sat on the ground with no box spring or headboard. All of their masculine clothes covered the ground while Violet's more feminine clothes were hidden in the panels of their breaking closet. The sunroof was the only thing that provided light as Violet never even turned on the lights. 

“I’m sorry,” Violet turned on their heel and looked over at Alice, holding a little black dress in their hands. “What about this for our first night out. Paired with a white faux fur jacket and my split dyed wig?”

“Are we going for a Cruella look and scaring off all of our available dates?” Alice laughed. 

“You’re right,” Violet folded up the dress and put it into their bag. “This is a last night kind of dress.”

“Are you excited?” Alice asked as she packed some of the socks into the duffel bag next to her. Violet only turned back to the closet. 

“Maybe I would be if I could stay there.”

“What do you mean by that?” 

“You know what I mean. I have to come back here at the end of it all. I can’t just leave on a moment's notice without sorting everything out first.” 

“That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

As far back as Alice could remember, Violet had always been the one who had come up with these crazy ass plans and Alice was the one who had paid for them out of her parent’s pockets. The one who got all of them in so much trouble and yet, now was the time she began to plan out every single move rather than do something for the hell of it.

“I can’t just do things like that anymore. I got into freaking Ohio State for crying out loud. I can’t just let my dad down and not go.”

“When have you ever listened to what your dad said? If you listened to your dad for even one moment then you would still be in that crappy football uniform.”

Violet turned back to Alice with a stare that was as dead as her grandmother. “Maybe for once I want to make my dad happy. I’m so tired of being the disappointment of the family.”

Alice nodded, sitting back in the bed and watching as Violet threw some more clothes out of the closet and into the bag. They had more taste than Alice and she was the one who had the money to buy all of the expensive things that Violet always lusted after. Maybe that’s why they were more fashionable than her. They could actually pull together an outfit from what they had rather than just have the clothes thrown onto them. Violet continued in silence for a few more moments before turning back to Alice.

“I really called you here because I didn’t want to be alone when my father comes home. I don’t want him throwing another fit about this whole LA trip.”

“It’s just some dumb fun. Besides, you were the one who planned the whole thing. If anything, he should be the one parent who feels the most safe about sending their kid halfway across the country.”

Violet rolled their eyes and tossed one last outfit into the duffel bag before zipping it up with a hefty sigh. “I think that’s it.”

“Did you not hear what I said?” Alice waved a hand in front of Violet’s almost perfect face. 

“Oh no,” Volet turned towards Alice. “I heard you, I just don’t believe you.  _ He _ doesn’t even want me to go down the street without him. This is the longest I’ve left him alone and I am only slightly worried for the sad sack of meat, as much as I hate him.”

Alice nodded. Violet looked over Alice’s shoulder and out the window. Their smile faded off their face. Their fingers tapped at their thigh. Alice looked over her shoulder and out the same window that Violet was looking out of. A red truck pulled up the driveway and into the garage that was one bad storm away from collapsing in on itself. Violet ripped the bob wig off of their head and ruffled their ear length blonde hair to make it seem more lived in and like it hadn’t been perfectly gelled back most of the day.

Violet waited with baited breath as did Alice. The door to the house screeched on its hinges. Much louder than what Alice had noticed before. Maybe it was because she knew who was going to come crawling up the stairs as soon as that door closed.

_ Creek. _ One step down. Violet cringed and turned to Alice, grabbing her hand for some support. Their eyes widened as they let out a shaky breath. 

“David?” Violet and Alice both cringed at Violet’s deadname. 

“Yes dad,” Violet’s name was much deeper than the one they used around Alice and their friends. 

“What are you doing up there?”

“Packing for the trip.”

“Humph.” 

_ Thud. Creek. _ Violet and Alice waited for a few seconds before Violet’s dad’s head peaked into the room. The anger on his face softened when he saw Alice sitting on the face. But the anger soon returned as he looked over at Violet. His eyes danced over their body as they moved their body awkwardly to make sure that their body wasn’t in such a feminine position.

“Stay...safe, Violet. I will see you in August.” 

Violet’s dad’s voice was meak, having only been even remotely nice because Alice was there, just like Violet had said. Alice’s face dropped as soon as she looked over at Violet standing against their nightstand. Their chest rose and fell with deep breaths as they seemed to collapse under the weight of pretending-for even a few moments-to be ‘normal’. 

Their eyes darted back to Alice, “Please let me stay at your house tonight. Make some bullshit excuse about it being just better so that we could just leave for the airport instead of you having to drive like an hour out of your way  _ just _ to go another hour in the exact opposite direction to get to the airport. That way you’re not making some two hour trip just to get to some-”

Alice held up a finger to silence her friend who was now looking at her like she was crazy. “We don’t have to make up this elaborate excuse. We can just  _ tell _ him you’re staying the night. Like you said, he’s nicer to you when I’m around.”

“Yeah,” Violet smiled. 

~

Alice stepped off the plane and looked over her shoulder at the group that followed behind her. After an absolutely  _ brutal _ four and a half hour flight at the asscrack of dawn, they had finally arrived in Los Angeles. The City of Angels is what they called it and by the looks of the airport, they had definitely landed in heaven. Violet wrapped a hand around Alice’s hand and led her to the baggage claim. 

“Isn’t this wonderful?” Violet’s eyes sparkled like sapphires in the sun. Their mouth agape in awe as they tried to take it all in. “The City of  _ fucking _ Angels.”

“I don’t think angels fuck, Vi.” Alice laughed as she looked over at her friend. 

“Some angels fuck.” Rouge-a tall, lanky man-placed a hand on the shoulder of Violet. His pale skin was almost sparkling in the sunlight. 

“Oh shut up,” Violet pushed Rouge’s hand off of them and looked around. “Our bags should be coming off any moment now.”

A crowd now began to gather around them. Most of them were in the same group that was with Violet and Alice. All of them were looking for bags that would soon come off the plane. Alice turned on her heel. They all probably looked like a family going on a trip. Alice looked at the group that had formed right in front of her. 

“Alright everyone, headcount. Line up.” Alice declared. 

The group lined up in front of Alice while Violet turned and kept an eye on the bags coming out. Alice waited until their murmuring stopped before she made a mental count of all of them. 

Number one: Charles. Bright green eyes. Pale skin. Vampiric. Would get any guy, gal or nonbianry pal within a hundred mile range but chose not to fuck any of them. He always said he was saving himself for marriage. For someone who was just as special as he thought. He had a sister back home that he took care of, Layanna who was just as much trouble as Rouge if left to her own devices. People called him Rouge for reasons still unknown to Alice. He had been the leader of the pack before Violet joined the group. 

Number two: Carson. The shortest male of the group. He looked like a mob member out of time. His head had been shaved to show off some beautiful clockwork tattoos that Alice swore moved of their own accord though she couldn’t actually be sure. Alice didn’t know anything else about him and that’s why people called him ‘The Mystery’. 

Number three: Nicholas. He looked like a wet dog and was about ninety pounds soaking wet. Stringy black hair that he never took care of no matter how many times Alice bought him hair products and took him to the hairdressers. Tattoo sleeves covered both of his arms but the raised scars of his past still peaked through if you concentrated long enough but he didn’t let you have the chance. 

Number four: Adrian. Short, dark hair. He wouldn’t let anyone near him sexually and mostly asexual. He was the least crazy of the group. His snake tattoos also seemed to have a mind of its own. He had a smile that could light up the whole world if only he smiled more than once. 

Number five: Antonio. His parents were drug dealers who left him looking like a twelve year old boy who hit his growth spurt too early. Tall and lanky like a skeleton. Not a healthy lanky like Rogue or the others. He was a good kid who meant well. The real reason they all took him on this vacation so that he could put him on a bus to British Columbia, Canada at the end of summer. 

Number six: Micheal. Dark red eyes. New to the group. Not much was known about them but the group were all determined to find out. They were born on the border of Russia and some small European country that no one knew about.

Number seven: Nigel. Bitchy little woman with split dyed hair. Nothing else to say about the snot nosed little brat that she was. Country chic. Not a lot of money but was able to scrape by with her winnings from showing horses.

Number eight: Ashley-Anne. Middle class bitch of a friend to Nigel. Supermodel worthy if it weren’t for the town that they lived in. Dated Nigel for a brief time before they broke it off. But they were still attached at the hip. Better friends than lovers. 

Number nine: Jason, along with Nicholas and Violet, he was the only one who made up the T in LGBT. Tall and skinny like the lot of them but not in the most healthy way. He was skeletal like Adrian and had been admitted to a hospital more than once for his weight. But since he put on twenty pounds from March to June, he was allowed to make the cross country trip. 

Number ten: Jaimie. A woman of nineteen who would have graduated the year before them if she hadn’t been held back for a year due to failing grades. Not her fault that her parents died and she had to take care of her little sister until some  _ actual _ guardians came to help her out. That was the only reason that 

Number eleven: Danielle was filled with more plastic than the normal human would ever want in their bodies but whatever made her feel nice. She had saved up the money to do it and Alice was in no place to judge when she had the same things done to her, only she let her fillers dissolve. She was going to study to be a nurse and wanted to help people. 

Number twelve: Ben. The man with messy brown hair and the rockstar attitude. He had the idea that he was going to stay here and start a band. He wouldn’t even let Alice book him the ticket for the return trip. If he wanted to come back with them then she would gladly book him one. 

Number thirteen: Sebastian. Shy kid who didn’t speak much. He was going to school at Julliard as soon as the summer was over. He was glad he didn’t have to stay and told everyone that much. He would be leaving on a flight to Julliard as soon as they got back from this vacation of sorts. Really he was the only one with any real plans after the summer. 

Number fourteen: Emmett. His sins in their small town was having the audacity of having even the slightest amount of brown tint to their skin and being one of the group that had the audacity of being gay. Not like he was very happy to be there. Parents moved in from out of town for a job and they weren’t even happy to be there. 

Number fifteen: Violet. A beautiful person who had been the first to become friends with Alice. They lived with their father who came home every night drunk. They had the bruises and emotional scars to prove that the life they lived inside that town was not goof one by any means. 

Alice made sixteen. Everyone was all accounted for. “Alright, we’ve got everyone.”

“And I have all of our bags.” Violet smiled as they brought the last bag with them to the group. Sixteen bags all filled with clothes that they would need for the next month. “The car should be waiting outside.”

“Hey,” Antonio tapped on Alice’s shoulder. His long hair was pulled into a low ponytail that had been half braided by Rouge on the plane. “Do you think I can stay by you today?”

“Of course, you don’t have to ask,” Alice said with a smile. “Stay by my side.” 

She grabbed her bag and brought it out to the pick up zone. There were already so many people getting into cars, it was hard to keep track of where the group was heading. As long as she kept her eye on Violet, they would be okay. She followed Violet but up to the limo that had their name on it. Well, not literally their name, but it did seem like it.

“Everyone in,” Violet turned and looked at the others, gesturing to the limo as the driver opened up the door. “The driver will handle the bags.”

Alice brought her bag to the back nearest the trunk. Antonio followed close behind her, following her movements much closer than Alice would have liked but that was water under the bridge. She bumped into his chest as he looked over her, hands hovering underneath her elbows for a moment. 

“Sorry about that,” Antonio chuckled. “I tend to be sort of a clutz.”

Alice pushed some hair behind her ear. “No problem.”

“Alice!” Violent called from the front of the limo, waving her hand. “Come on.”

Alice moved past Antonio for a moment before she turned her head to look over her shoulder. Antonio still followed close behind her with his eyes pointed down at the ground. Alice stepped into the limo, hand outstretched and awaiting Violet’s hand as soon as she lost balance. Alice shot a look up at Violet with a smile as she slipped into the limo. 

“Did you invite Antonio?” Violet whispered into Alice’s ear. 

“Yeah,” Alice shot a look at Rouge who stepped in. “Of course I did, he’s our friend  _ and _ he needs an escape just as much as the rest of us.”

“Fine.”

Violet and the others settled into their seats, waiting for the driver to finish packing their bags into the back. The low mumblings of the rest of the group had filled the limo. Alice settled back into her set. Her seat at the back gave her a perfect, mostly unobstructed view to the front of the limo. Rouge wrapped an arm around Jaimie with a smile. Ben seemed to be chatting Danielle up but failing utterly before pulling a bag of blow out of his pocket.

“Anyone want some blow?” Ben stumbled up to Alice and dangled the bag in her face. “Want some blow?”

“Sir,” The driver looked into the rearview mirror. “Please sit down.”

Ben plopped into the seat next to Alice. “Want some blow?” Ben whispered into her ear. His hot breath tickled the sensitive area near her war. A shiver ran down Alice’s spine. An involuntary reaction. 

“No thanks,” Alice waved a whole bunch of smoke out of her face. Violet had already started smoking the weed that they had stowed away on their carry-on bag. “I don’t do drugs.”

“Taking that D.A.R.E pledge very seriously, I see.” Ben dangled the blow out in front of him. “Anyone want some blow? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

No one responded to Ben. But he pulled out a credit card and dumped a small amount of blow onto his hand. He lined it up and took a deep, long sniff. Ben shook his head. Alice scooted away from Violet and Ben, leaving the drugs behind to sit next to Antonio. 

“What are you most excited about this summer?” Alice placed a hand on Antonio’s thigh. He scrunched his muscles up and looked over at Alice. “Sorry, I shouldn’t touch someone without permission.”

“You’re okay, I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all,” Antonio looked over at Violet and Ben who were sharing the drugs they had brought on the flight there. “Couldn’t handle being near the druggies?”

“Nah, not really. I can’t stop them from having fun away from their parents but, I  _ could _ get them to stop if it bothered you though.”

“Why? Just because my mom’s a druggie and my dad sells them and I don’t want to fall into addiction doesn’t mean that other people can’t enjoy them.”

“Oh, cool,” Alice nodded. “But are you looking forward to anything this summer?”

“Well, Violet has a lot of stuff planned so I assume that I will get a lot of shots in,” Antonio pointed over to Violet.

“Shots? Are you a videographer?”

“Photographer and videographer. I got accepted into NYU on a full ride.”

Alice smiled, “Congratulations Antonio.”

Antonio smiled, reaching a hand around to the back of his head and undoing the half braid that was still in his hair. “Thanks, do you have any plans for college?”

“I write actually, I got a job working in New York but I’ll be flying between here and New York working with a few companies but I have a few manuscripts stacked up that are waiting to be edited.”

“Oh really? What do you like to write?”

“I  _ like _ to say I like postmodern horror but I really just do mostly contemporary romance.” Alice paused, realizing she hadn’t asked much about what Antonio liked to do. “So what kind of photography do you do?”

“Slice-of-life. Kind of snapshot-y. Very real and raw. Very little editing. I like having the kind of ability to show the sides of life that aren’t normally in art shows.”

Alice sat back, “That’s really cool. So you’re going to be the person who takes all our photos this summer?”

“Yep,” Antonio sat down and looked over at Rouge who was still trying to make the moves on a very sleepy Jaimie. 

“Rouge,” Alice tapped on Rouge’s shoulder causing him to pull away from Jaimie. “Did you know Antonio likes photography?”

Rouge practically climbed over Alice’s lap to get to Antonio. Jaimie settled back down into her seat. “Thanks for getting Rouge out of here. I  _ really _ don’t want this trip to end up with me fucking a guy that came on the trip wth us”

“No problem.”

The buzz of excitement soon became background noise to Alice as she stared out the window across from her. Her body limp against the seats as she tried to relax a little bit before Violet yanked her back into the wonderful world of LA. She closed her eyes for a moment, finally falling victim to jetlag. 

“Guys! Look!” Violet shouted. Alice snapped her eyes open and looked over to the window.

The limo pulled up a long, manicured driveway. It took a few moments before the house was even in view. It sat perched on a hill with a mostly glass exterior that let in all the natural light. Even the bedrooms looked like they had glass. Seventeen bedrooms and seventeen full bathrooms, two kitchens, three floors. Once used by people like  _ Guns N’ Roses _ and  _ Mötely Crüe _ for partying back in the day. The perfect party house for the group to spend the summer crashing in. 

Alice walked into the house, smiling as the huge chandelier met her. She spun around in the middle of the foyer while the others began to pour in. Violet ran up to her, placing their hands on Alice’s shoulders to stop her from getting dizzy. Alice and Violet jumped up and down in the foyer with smiles plastered on their faces.

“I have to call my mom,” Alice smiled.

“Can’t that wait?” Violet turned their head. “We should at least put our bags in our rooms first.”

“Yeah. It can wait.” Alice went back to the front door to where Rouge and Sebastian were pulling the suitcases out of the trunk. 

“Need any help?”

“N-no.” Sebastian smiled up at Alice, passing her just a random suitcase. Alice bent down and checked the tag. 

“Jaimie, your bag.”

Jaimie walked over and grabbed the bag, walking through the door and going inside. Sebastian handed Alice another bag that wasn’t hers. This continued until  _ finally _ the last bag was handed to her. Finally, the name tage read Alice Mae Winter. Alice stepped back into the house. Her suitcase rolled behind her. Suitcases lined the foyer. Chatter came from the kitchen. Alice and Sebastian followed the noise until they finally made it to the kitchen. 

Most of the guys hung near the fridge, picking through some food that had been left by the owners until they could go get some food for themselves. Violet sat on the counter, their hand resting next to a piece of paper, talking to Jaimie, Danielle, Ashley-Anne and Nigel.

“Alice, we were waiting on you!” Violet smiled as Sebastian pushed past them to take a seat at the island. Violet picked up the piece of paper and jutted it out towards Alice. “We’ve got  _ rules. _ ”

“And you want me to read them?” Alice took the piece of paper from Violet and looked it over. Front and back lined with paper. 

“Well duh, you’re the one who rented the place.” 

“Fine,” As soon as Alice agreed everyone went silent. Her eyes dropped back down to the paper. 

> Dear Ms. Winter and friends, 
> 
> Thank you for renting this place out for the summer. You have chosen one of  _ the  _ best party houses in Los Angeles. We hope you enjoy your summer here before you all go your respective ways. One last hoorah before the grind of adult life really starts. We do, however, have a few rules that are in place to protect you. They might seem odd but if you really want to survive this place then you must adhere to them. 
> 
> Rule #1: Your childhood room will always be the safest place in this home. 
> 
> Rule #2: When leaving any room on the second floor, make sure to close the door behind you. You must do this without exception. 
> 
> Rule #3: Do not touch the stairwell painting. The paint never seems to fully dry. 
> 
> Rule #4: At times, a strange suitcase will appear at random points in the house. Do not touch the contents inside. It is always a trap. 
> 
> Rule #5: Only use the downstairs corner bathroom before 7pm. After that the mirror will try to deceive you. 
> 
> Rule #6: Count every door in this home at the beginning and end of each day. If you come across a door you do not remember counting, do not enter it.
> 
> Rule #7: Take your prescribed medication every morning. A happy day starts with a healthy mind. 
> 
> Rule #8: Clean up after yourself. We have an ant problem. 
> 
> Rule #9: When taking the spiral steps to the third floor storage room, do not look up. 
> 
> Rule #10: The phone in the downstairs lounge will only ever ring between 1am and 4am in the morning. Do not answer it. It is not for you. 
> 
> Rule #11: Shut the piano before bedtime. 
> 
> Rule #12: When tasked with polishing mother's antiques, avoid looking at them directly. 
> 
> Rule #13: Remember the mirror in the downstairs lounge, say you're alone and standing in front of it. In the reflection, how many people would you see? Remember, if you were by yourself the answer should always be one. 
> 
> Rule #14: Although the flowers are plastic, please water them daily. 
> 
> Rule #15: Avoid using the Jacuzzi room. The heating system will malfunction. It cannot be fixed. 
> 
> Rule #16: Make sure to knock three times before entering the pool house. The guests in there don't really seem to leave. 
> 
> Rule #17: Never stand directly underneath the chandelier. Do not turn between the hours of 1am and 4am. The light will disturb the guests. 
> 
> Rule #18: In your old room, there is a storage compartment under the bed. Do not use it to store anything that you would not be willing to part with.
> 
> Rule #19: Before bedtime place your slippers in an asymmetrical way. Grandmother says this will help you run faster in your dreams. 
> 
> Rule #20: Checking under the bed will not help you. 
> 
> Rule #21: Do not turn on the fan in grandmother's room. 
> 
> Rule #22: You may only observe the forest painting from an angle. Do not stand parallel to the canvas. 
> 
> Rule #23: The shoe closet and wine cellar have a tendency to switch. 
> 
> Rule #24: Only go down to the wine cellar past dark. It is one of the few places in this house that grow calmer at night. 
> 
> Rule #25: While your room is the safest place in the house, there is no guarantee that you will be safe from yourself. 
> 
> Rule #26: Leave your room for at least 3 hours a day. Sunlight is good for you. 
> 
> Rule #27: On sunny days, politeness is a plus. If you see them waving at you, you must wave back. 
> 
> Rule #28: If you crawl inside the stairwell storage compartment and turn right, you will stumble upon a tiny secret room in which the walls are covered with crayon drawings. Do not attempt to erase or clean these marks. They worked very hard on them. 
> 
> Rule #29: When working in the private study room, remain as silent as possible. 
> 
> Rule #30: On occasions, mother will tell you to prepare a mattress on the third floor. This only occurs when there are too many guests already in the main house. 
> 
> Rule #31: At times you may think you are hearing voices coming out of the vents, remember nothing they say is trustworthy. 
> 
> Rule #32: Set constant alarms for yourself throughout the day. These ringtones will help you distinguish real life from your dreams. 
> 
> Rule #33: If you ever hear knocking at your bedroom door-especially past dark-do not open it. Your mother would just call out to you. She does not knock. 
> 
> Rule #34: Stop trying to convince your parents that there is something wrong with the house. Talking about it will just make them angrier.
> 
> Rule #35: If you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of running water, it is not a dream. It means that they have found a way into your room. Keep your eyes closed. 
> 
> Rule #36: Do not be alarmed when the TV and the lights turn on by themselves. Some of the guests do not like the dark either. 
> 
> Rule #37: Do not swim from 1am to 4am. During this time the pool will seem endlessly vast. 
> 
> Rule #38: After dark, avoid looking out west facing windows on the first floor. They can see you looking, but you cannot see them.
> 
> Rule #39: If the scent of smoke or something burning leaks from your bedroom's air vents, leave. Lock yourself in the study and wait until it clears. 
> 
> Rule #40: Never wave at your reflection. It may interpret that as an invitation to cross over.
> 
> Rule #41: Understand that at times you are the unreliable narrator. 
> 
> Rule #42: Dead bees will appear throughout the house. When disposing of them, do so respectfully. 
> 
> Rule #43: When waking up the stairs alone, if you think you hear more than one pair of footsteps...run. 
> 
> Rule #44: Before driving out of the garage, make sure to check the backseat. The last thing you want is to carry an extra, uninvited passenger outdoors. 
> 
> Rule #45: It is constantly either too hot or freezing. Tweaking the thermostat won't help.
> 
> Rule #46: Avoid any spots in this house that appear to fall on a spatial alignment. 
> 
> Rule #47: At times you may think you see miscellaneous clusters resembling mannequin parts while they usually remain downstairs, it is important that you do not acknowledge their existence. 
> 
> Rule #48: Make a mental note of where important objects are placed such as your shoes or keys. 
> 
> Rule #49: The measurements of this location’s inside dimensions are impossible. This is also one of the few doors in this entire house that will-at times-disappear. Anything or anyone stuck inside during a vanishing will not come back the same.
> 
> Rule #50: When a cluster begins appearing upstairs it is assigned that it has become hostile. In a chance event, evacuate to an enclosed space with no more than one entry point.
> 
> If the house gives you an inexplicable sense of deja vu or think you may have seen it before it could be because you have. 
> 
> Thank you
> 
> The Winterbottoms

Violet laughed. “That’s a little weird.”

“What the fuck is the location mentioned in rule forty-nine?” Jaimie leaned over Alices’s shoulder to look at the sheet of paper in her hands. Alice flipped the paper over and over. 

“I have no idea. It doesn’t say.”

Jaimie huffed. “Whatever. I’m going to go find a bedroom.”

Jaimie walked back into the foyer and came back a moment later with her suitcase. Danielle followed suit. Then Nigel and then Ashley-Anne. Violet slipped off the counter and placed a kiss on Alice’s cheek. 

“Better find a room quick. I wouldn’t want to find myself on the third floor.” Violet whispered into Alice’s ear. 

Alice followed Violet into the foyer, grabbing her suitcase. First or second floor? There was no way Alice was going to take the second floor. She would much rather take the second. Somehow it felt much safer than the first. Her foot touched the first stair. A loud piercing scream echoed down to her. Alice dropped her suitcase and ran up to meet the scream. Violet stood in the doorway of one of the rooms with their hands over their mouth and their body shaking. From what Alice could see over their shoulder, it was  _ their  _ room from  _ their _ house. 

“What’s wrong?”

Violet turned with a smile, “This fucking room is amazing, can’t you see?”

Alice looked over Violet’s shoulder once more. A pure white room that reminded Alice very much of her own stared back at her. Alice pulled back and gave Violet a smile before helping them with their suitcase. Violet turned back to Alice with a frown on their face. 

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

“That’s okay. I’m going to bring my suitcase up. We can be neighbors.”

Alice walked back down to her suitcase though it didn’t seem anyone had noticed that Violet had screamed. She brought it up to the room next to Violet’s room. She brought her suitcase to the dresser. Her room was mostly red with lights that made the red glow from the room even worse. There was a bed, a dresser, a closet, a TV atop the dresser with a remote and a door to her own bathroom.

Alice pulled her phone out of her pocket as she unpacked her bag, taking frequent breaks to check her Instagram and other social media which made unpacking go twice as long but she came out one hour later to Violet smiling at her through the doorway. 

“Come on,” Violet extended a hand out. “We’re all hanging out in the living room before we go out tonight.”

“Let me call my mom first. I already promised her I would call when we landed.” Violet nodded as Alice called her mom on the speed dial.

“Hello you have reached the phone of two-five-” Alice skipped the bit where the robotic voice read out her mom’s number and went straight to the voicemail. 

“Hey mom, I've been telling you to set up your voicemail forever. Anyways, I just landed in LA and I guess you know the Airbnb we're renting out for the summer. One of the owners left behind this really just extensive, long list of rules for us to follow? But anyways, just give me a call back when you can and I love you.”

Alice shut her phone off and looked over at her friends. Sixteen of them in one house for a weekend. All high off of their recent graduation, ready to spend most of their time stripping their clothes off and forgetting their nights with alcohol and weed and other drugs that Alice dared not take. Free of the hometown that constricted them all for eighteen years of their lives. Alice walked into the kitchen and picked up the rule sheet. 

_ Rule #1: Your childhood room will always be the safest place in this home.  _

Maybe Alice was already missing home. She  _ was  _ not about to start missing home now. That was reserved for the dog days of summer when she was tired of partying. But something felt...off about this house. Very off. She couldn’t place her finger on it but there was something wrong. Maybe she was just hallucinating off of the contact high she got on the limo. Maybe she was just tired. 

Violet leaned into Alice and snapped Alice out of her thoughts, already high off of the weed she had probably smoked while Alice was busy with unpacking, “Isn’t this  _ fucking _ amazing?”

“Yeah,” Alice looked down at the piece of paper in her hands. Her heart sank to her stomach. “Fucking amazing.”


	2. Two

Alice was slow to wake the next morning. Her back and head throbbed from the night before. Her makeup was smeared up against her face. She rolled over onto her face. The red glow of the room too much for her throbbing head. As soon as she could finally face the light, she brought her phone to her face. Noon. Not bad for the first night out. Alice stood on wobbly feet using the walls to make her way down to the kitchen. 

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Antonio looked up from the morning paper that had come to the house. 

“Why are you so loud?” Alice brought a hand to her temple, her head throbbing with every word spoken, and looked over at Antonio. 

“I’m not being loud. I am literally speaking in a normal tone.” Antonio dropped his newspaper. “I wasn’t the one who decided to spend most of the night drinking.”

Alice opened the fridge door and glanced over the food options. All very healthy which she had expected. It was exactly the same kind of stuff she had been given at home. She grabbed some dairy-free yogurt and some fruit. Her perfect hangover cure. 

“I am not the one who planned the trip. I only paid for it.” Alice looked over at Sebastian who sat next to Antonio at the island. “Too much stress.”

“Paid for it with your parents money,” Antonio mumbled. Alice caught the words but was too hungover to actually give a shit about fighting him on it. It was true. 

“What time did you two get up?” 

Alice shoved a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth and put a strawberry into her mouth after swallowing the yogurt. Alice once again put a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth while waiting on a response from Antonio though he seemed to not have heard the question. Her eyes darted over Sebastian who sat reading a book. 

“Excuse me,” Alice pushed. “I asked you guys a  _ question _ . What time did you two get up?”

“Huh?” Antonio looked up. “Oh, I was up at nine. Sebastian was up before me though.”

“I was up at eight.” Sebastian deadpanned, never taking his eyes off of the book in front of him.

Alice nodded before going back to her breakfast. Over the course of the next hour her friends began to join her at the breakfast table. Violet passed around the Advil bottle while everyone tried to eat something and fill their stomachs. Sebastian and Antonio had moved into the living room to read, away from everyone who was still eating and waking up.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Alice looked over at Violet who still rubbed their head in pain, the Advil still having not hit them yet. 

“We are going on a hike at three. Then we come back here and start preparing for tonight.” Violet rubbed their temples once more before reaching into the fridge and popping some cherries into their mouth. “But we  _ could _ do something super touristy and go to the Hollywood sign or something.”

“Nah,” Alice waved her hand. “Let’s do something  _ fun _ .”

“We have two full months for fun,” Jaimie looked over her shoulder. “Let’s just take the afternoon off and swim.”

Violet sighed as they looked over at the others, “What do  _ you _ guys want to do?”

“I think I’m going to go and take some pictures,” Antonio opened up the door to the fridge. “If anyone wants to model for me then you guys are welcome too.”

Alice perked up with a smile, “I’ll go with you, Antonio.” 

Antonio opened the water bottle with a smile before heading back into the living room. Alice turned back to her group of friends who soon began to scatter out and head back to their room to get changed. Not many had seemed to have heard the question posed by Violet. Not like it was a super important one. It didn’t matter what any of them did with their downtime in between strictly planned activities. Alice brought herself back to the table and waited for a few moments for the kitchen to clear out. 

“I think I’m going to go to the pool with Jaimie,” Rouge smiled at her before taking a bite of watermelon. “Sounds like fun.”

Alice brought herself into the massive living room that she had never actually been in. A massive couch filled a majority of the room. Sebastian and Antonio lazed about as they read bits and pieces of the newspaper that laid spread about in front of them. Alice pushed some of the paper out of the way and waited for one of them to acknowledge her. But they were in too deep. She stood up, not caring much about what happened with them. 

Alice walked up the stairs onto the second floor. Her head still pounded with every step she took. Her body swayed as she looked down the hallway. Alice placed a hand on the wall to steady herself as the floor below her wobbled. Unlike Violet and Rouge, she never turned to illicit substances to escape her hellhole of a life. No, those things were far too easy for her to get. Privacy. Anonymity. That was like heroin to her. 

Her eyes turned to the end of the hallway as if that would help stabilize her. A creature as tall as the ten foot high ceilings and as dark as night stood at the end. It’s arms were so long that its hands touched the ground. It’s neck was bent at a ninety degree angle just to look at Alice. 

She raised a hand to her head and balanced herself as if that would help her. The figure let out a bellowing screech as she flung herself into her own room. A hand flew over to her racing chest as she tried to calm herself down. She pressed her back against the door as if that was going to keep the thing from entering her room. Her eyes darted around the room for something to protect her. She brought herself to the dresser and grabbed one of the only things that would help her. 

Nothing. She hadn’t thought to bring anything that might help her. It was a big group of people that she felt safe with. She flopped into the warm embrace of the bed. The fluffy blankets tickled her nose. She just had to take it for a few moments until she built up the courage to look over her shoulder. Alice shook off the image that she had seen at the end of the hallway. 

_ Thud.  _ “Shit.”

Alice stood from her bed and looked out her bedroom and into the hallway. Emmett stood at the end picking up a few bags worth from Target in his hands. He turned to Alice with a smile, quickly hiding the bags behind his back as if that would keep her from seeing them. 

“What’s up?” Emmett looked over at Alice. He shifted as he juggled the bags behind his back. 

“Nothing,” Alice pulled herself out of the room and leaned to look around Emmett’s back to see what the bags held though Emmett shuffled to make sure she couldn’t get a good look into them. “What’s up with you?”

Emmett shook his head as he still tried to keep Alice from getting a good look into the bag, “Nothing.”

“Seems like you went to Target.” Emmett nodded. “What did you get?”

“Oh, well, I had to get some more shampoo.”

“You didn’t think of getting some  _ before _ we left?” Alice reached around Emmett’s back and grabbed the bags out of his hands. 

Bottles of alcohol sat strewn about in the bags filled with some snacks to cover up the fact that he had bought all that. Alice dug her hand deep within the bags and brought out all of the bottles that it seemed like Emmett could hold. His eyes dragged over Alice as he looked down at her. His eyes began to get dark as Alice pulled out the last bottle. 

“You  _ know _ what this shit does to you and yet you still buy it.” 

“Why is everyone else allowed to drink on this trip and I’m the one who has to be stone cold sober?”

“Antonio and Sebastian are sober, why don’t you hang out with them?”

Emmett shifted in his spot for a moment as he seemed to consider the facts, “They’re nerds. I don’t even know why you asked them to be here.”

“Because they’re friends of ours and I’m paying for this trip and I can ask for someone to come on this trip if I want to.”

Emmett sighed and looked down at the bottles of alcohol in Alice’s hands. “Why do  _ I _ need to act like I’m getting drunk every night?”

“You know why.” Alice grabbed Emmett’s free hand with her own. “You  _ can _ tell them the real reason why you were gone, you know that, right?”

“Are you sure about that?” Emmett looked over at the railing that led down to the first floor. 

“I know that there are a lot of secrets that they are hiding. Yours is the least worrying secret I’ve been asked to hold over the years.” 

Emmett looked over at Alice as he squeezed her hand in his. His dark eyes furrowed only slightly as he looked over her once more. His secrets were safe with her so long as he wanted them kept with her. Where their privacy had been violated over and over again, she seemed to be the most trusting out of all of them. Even though the security cameras all over her house would say otherwise. Every movement of her day had been calculated out since she was a child. Every single minute of her day had been planned. Where she was, who she was seeing and what she was doing. Not like she had much of a problem with it now. She was so close to leaving them, she could taste it. 

“What else have you been asked to hide?” Emmett dropped the bags at his feet. He brought his hands up to his hair and pulled it back into a bun. 

“I can’t say that. They have to tell you that themselves.” The weight of the alcohol became uncomfortable in her arms. “I don’t want to see any of this in your room. I  _ will _ breathalyze you if I have to.”

Emmett sighed, “Fine. I won’t be anything like you right now.”

“Ha ha.” Alice turned on her heel and walked down the stairs. 

“Where’d you get the booze?” Ashley-Anne smiled at Alice as she ascended the stairs. 

Alice paused and looked over her shoulder where Emmett descended the stairs, eyes widened in fear. “I got it from Emmett. He went out and got it for us.” 

“Sweet,” Ashley-Anne’s silver hair and extensions swayed as she brought herself up the stairs. “Thanks Em.”

Alice let out a soft sigh before descending the last bit of stairs. She brought herself into the kitchen, bending down to the locked cabinet nearest the fridge. The owners had mailed her the key a few days before the trip out to LA just to make sure that their valuables weren’t touched. She unlocked the cabinet with the key and looked over her shoulder, checking to make sure no one had seen her pull out the key before she put all of the liquor with some of the valuables. 

“What are you doing?” Jaimie bent down next to Alice with a smile. 

“Oh,” Alice locked the cabinet with Flash-like speed. “Just making sure all the valuables were locked up.”

Jaimie licked her lips as a slow smile came over her face. Her eyes darted to the key still in Alice’s hand then back to the cabinet. She came up slow, running her hand against the counter top with her long, acrylic nails lightly scraping against the marble tile. Her hips swayed as she moved towards Rouge. Her eyes darted back over to Alice once more before heading off with Rouge.

Alice checked her watch though only thirty minutes had gone by since she last looked at a clock. She let out a small whine before she stood from her spot. She brushed her hair back then looked over at those who were relaxing in the living room only to get up and head back to her room. 

She securely put up the key Jaimie had eyed before flopping down onto her bed once more, putting her legs up. The hair on the back of her neck raised as if someone was watching her. But from her view was of the ceiling and she knew no one had hidden themselves under the bed. Her eyes examined as much of the room as she could see before she had to sit up. She sat up and looked around the red tinted room, hugging herself as she tried to see what made her hair stand up. 

“Is anyone there?” She called out into the red hued room. 

A figure darted across the doorway. A shadow that was smokey gray. Her heart raced. Her breathing quickened and her eyes darted around the room. 

No answer. 

“Rouge? Em?” She called out though no one answered. “Vi?”

No answer. 

She shook her head and moved away from the bed. She moved through the room to the door that still sat open. To her right was the same corner that she had seen the shadow figure in before. To her left was a huge window. No one was in the hallway. No one that would have made the shadow that she could see. 

“Alice?” Jason called up the stairs. “Were you calling someone?”

Her heart sank. Alice froze in the doorway, not sure how to explain what she just saw if someone asked. She shook the shadow creature out of her mind. “No, I wasn’t.” 

Jason climbed up the stairs. His still thin body struggled to make it up the stairs. Alice placed a hand under his elbow and looked into his eyes. He looked over her as he steadied himself at the top. His eyes had bags under them.

“Are you okay?” Alice looked Jason over as he glanced at her. 

“Yeah,” Jason swayed. “I think I am going to be okay.”

“You know that you can talk to me if it’s getting bad again, you know that right?” 

Alice made an attempt to look Jason in the eyes but he averted her gaze and dropped his arms to his side. If it was as bad as it looked she might just have to take him back home. He was too skinny to come on this trip. The doctor only agreed to allow him on the trip because it ‘would be good to socialize with people’ and that Alice had ‘always been a good influence’ on him. 

“I know,” Jason deadpanned before looking over his shoulder at the others downstairs. “I just don’t want to ruin the trip. I’ve been very good on my plan. I-I have my therapist on speed dial.”

Alice placed her hands on her hips and looked over the railing to the downstairs. There were a few people who had congregated in the living room but Antonio and Sebastian had left. Probably to get to somewhere way more quiet. Alice turned back to Jason. 

“I am so sorry,” Alice placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “I just want you to be okay.”

“I know you do,” Jason turned to look over the balcony with Alice. “Thank you for keeping the secret. Well...you, Emmett and Sebastian.”

“I would always keep your secret no matter what.” Alice said with a smile. “And as long as you don’t want to talk about it then I will ever tell anyone.”

Jason past by Alice and went to his own room. He looked once more over his shoulder, giving Alice a smile before holing himself off in his own bedroom. Alice walked back down to the front, opening the door and heading into the tall trees. 

Why had someone left those rules on the table? What were they even for? Where they supposed to even do? Some of them were so much dumber than what had to be mentioned. Your childhood room is the safest place in this home? None of them had a childhood room in this house. None of them had even  _ lived _ in this house before. They had no reason to even have a room there that even resembled their own rooms. 

What was this house?

  
  
  



	3. Three

Alice climbed to the top of the mountain. The sun beat down on her pale shoulders. Her eyes darted over to Antonio who was sweating. His skin had turned a fiery red. He doubled over and fell to the ground with a heave, rolling over onto his back. His camera bag sat next to him, a few memory cards spilling out onto the ground. His eyes turned to Alice as he feebly reached out a hand towards her. 

“Come on, you have to get up. You’re missing the best kind of view.” 

Alice cleaned up the fallen memory cards and grabbed Antonio’s camera from the ground, brushing off any dust. Antonio placed a hand on Alice’s shoulder and used her as a crutch over to the edge of the cliff. Antonio’s steps faltered a bit as he looked over his shoulder. 

The city looked so small from up that high. They were on top of the world. The city sat almost perfect encapsulated by mountains. Even in broad daylight, the city seemed to be glowing. It had taken a few hours to get up to the top of the mountain with all of their stops for breaks and water but it was worth it to see the sunset. 

Alice placed her head on Sebastian’s shoulder. He tensed up to her touch for a moment and then relaxed when he finally realized who had touched him. He wrapped an arm around Alice’s body with a smile. Alice relaxed into Sebastian’s warm touch. His calloused fingers brushed against the smooth skin above her waist. 

“It’s gorgeous up here.”

“Yeah,” Alice smiled up at Sebastian, her head bumping his chin with a light touch but Sebastian was all smiles. “It really is pretty up here.”

The group took up most of the top of the cliff but that was okay. Not many people had climbed up to the top. A few had only made it halfway. It was a tourist spot so most of the locals wouldn’t be climbing up. Alice moved out of Sebastian’s touch and sat down on the edge, her feet hanging off of the ledge. Her shoes felt like they were going to slip off and fall to the ground below her. 

“I hope you don’t mind me sitting down next to you,” Sebastian sat down next to her. She nodded in response and just looked back at the sunset. 

Alice rested her head on Sebastian’s shoulder once more, letting out a soft yawn as she watched the sun caress the mountains across from them. She nuzzled her face into his neck with a soft sigh. Sebastian wrapped an arm around her. His warmth was better than anything they had ever felt in awhile. 

“We should make s’mores when we get home,” Alice mumbled into Sebastian’s neck. He let out a laugh probably because her warm breath tickled his neck. 

“We should,” Sebastian smiled. “Vi! Alice wants to make s’mores.”

Violet turned from their Wonder Woman stance at the edge of the cliff. “Oh hell yeah, last one to the bottom of the mountain has to collect the wood!”

Alice pulled herself up off the ledge and sprinted down the mountain with Violet close behind her. The thudding feet of the rest of her friends were not that far behind her. Her lungs burned as she tried to get the cars that they had rented for the trip up. Her hand touched the silver door handle of one of the SUVs they had taken to the mountain.

“First!” Alice cheered, doing a dorky dance for all of her friends who jogged to the cars. 

“Second!” Violet yelled as she touched the car. 

Cheers of ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ came through but Rouge shook his head and raised a hand up. He was bent down and trying to catch his breath, “Guess I’m collecting wood.”

His chest heaved as he pulled himself into one of the cars. Alice and the rest followed suit and pulled themselves into the cars. The heat from the Los Angeles sun made the vinyl seats burn Alice’s legs. Her eyes darted over to Sebastian who situated himself in the middle of the backseat. 

“Fuck these seats are hot as hell,” Alice hissed before looking out of the window. She hoped that looking away would help with the pain. 

Danielle placed herself in the front while Violet took the driver’s seat. Her eyes darted over to the woman on the passenger’s side. Her eyes turned to meet Alice’s with a chuckle as if someone had told a joke but Alice had heard none. She shrunk back down into her seat then looked out of the window as the engine turned over. 

Alice watched as the trees turned into houses and the houses into the buildings of downtown then back into houses. The houses became sparse and fewer and farther between. Alice rested her head against the window, her skull vibrating and jolting against the hard glass. Her eyes darted to the front of the car once more. 

Danielle sat applying lip gloss with an expert hand. Her lips moved along to the song on the radio. Violet tapped their fingers on the steering wheel. Their eyes came up to the rearview mirror and gave Alice a reassuring smile. Even if she  _ had _ been the last one to join the group last year, she still felt like such an outsider to the rest of them. She had kept their secrets but that was the only reason she had stayed. 

Alice brought herself out of the care with a stretch. Sebastian walked around the car to Alice. Emmett followed Sebastian’s lead and smiled at Alice as he passed by her. Alice went to the backyard to inspect where they might have their fire. Though it might have been a bad idea about the campfire with all the wildfires during the summer. 

She hadn’t even thought about that. The wildfires. They would most likely have to evacuate the house at some point. She shook off the thought as she went back into the kitchen where everyone had congregated. About ten packs of six Hershey’s bars sat on the counter next to two bags of marshmallows.

“What do you want to drink?” Ashley-Anne tossed her now blue hair extensions over her shoulder. 

“Did you dye your hair?” Alice pointed at Ashley-Anne’s hair. 

Ashley-Anne touched her hair and shook her head, “No, silver as normal. Why do you ask?”

“They looked blue,” Aslice shook off the weird occurrence. “Must be the lighting.”

The two shadow figures, the weird hair change, and the long list of rules? Weird things started to stack up. Not like there couldn’t be perfectly good explanations for everything, right?

~

The group of teens huddled together and watched the fire die down. Alice looked around. Each one of them had so many secrets that  _ she _ had to keep until they were all ready to tell them. They all sat in the circle and spoke amongst themselves. Their group broke off into much smaller ones. 

Violet sat all by themself at the edge of the group. A leader working on the next adventure that they would have. Maybe they were planning another club night which wouldn’t be that out of character. Hopefully benders would be kept to the weekend. Not like they knew about Emmett’s inpatient treatment. Only a fourth of the group knew about that outside of Emmett himself. 

Violet had been on a bender ever since their mom died. She had been emotionally abusive but it was still hard to lose someone who had left them with an equally abusive father and a younger sister who still lived in the crib in the closet. They had to take care of her for the most part but they had sent her off to a friend who lived in town and  _ wouldn’t _ end up hurting and damaging the young girl’s psyche beyond prepare. They had come to Alice when they first got hit by their dad. They were five. 

Emmett, Jason and Sebastian sat in the corner. An unlikely trio. A prodigy, a fashion designer and the burnout. But all three of them sat on a log with their bodies entangled together so well that they looked like Cerberus. The men were looking at Jason’s phone while Jason seemed to be playing some type of phone game. Their faces lit up with the blue glow from the phone and the orange glow from the fire that had begun to die down. Their faces were covered in remnants of the smores that they had eaten earlier. 

Jason had been in the same treatment center as Emmett and Sebastian. All at the same time though none of them had spoke on it much. They acted like they had never even seen each other as soon as they got back. Probably because they hadn’t. Jason was in for an eating disorder, Emmett was in for substance abuse and Sebastian was in for a suicide attempt. Alice had actually seen him pass out at theater practice but no one  _ actually  _ knew the cause except for the four of them. Not like his life wasn’t bad but his mind just hated him. 

Jaimie sat snuggled up to Rouge. The couple was on again, off again though it didn’t really bother anyone else in the group. Occasionally touchy-feely but most of the time glaring at each other while trying to re-seduce each other. Either way it wasn’t any of Alice’s business.

Jaimie was a transplant all the way from Montana. Her parents were also dead. She had gotten custody of her little sister and brother when she was only sixteen. She had to drop all of her in-person classes and move online just to take care of them and get them through school. She worked during the day and did school online at night; she didn’t seem too affected by it. No one knew the real reason why she dropped out. Not like it mattered anyway since she still graduated. 

Rouge was going to be a doctor though he had nothing to lose. He was one of the only ones with a good homelife. He was going to be the one who had gotten out of the small town. One who took the place of Alice herself. He was everything that Alice was  _ supposed  _ to be. The one who broke out of town. The one who left everything behind just to come back every year to flex on everyone. Him and Layanna had been born in Wales but moved to America before the ages of fifteen and ten respectively. Though, Rouge was absolutely terrified about going to college, having only expressed thoughts of killing people to Alice. 

Carson sat on a log nearest Nicholas. Neither of them were actually sitting near each other. They more or less shared the log while attempting to eat the last of the smores Carson was truly the mystery that his name said. All Alice really knew about him was that his parents were killed in some kind of accident and that Carson was the sole survivor. Everyone else thought that his aunt was his mother but not Alice. He didn’t  _ need _ to tell her anything else. He was just going to keep to himself and nothing else. 

“Are you  _ sure _ you want to go to the Hollywood sign?” Violet sighed and snapped Alice out of her momentary lapse in thought. 

“Yes,” Antonio pleaded. “I’ve got a ghost story about it too.”

“Not the one where the lady threw herself off of it.” Rouge looked over at Antonio, completely shutting him down before he could even say what it was. “That one is way too easy.”

Antonio slunk back into his seat and looked over at Violet with the same expression as a hurt puppy. Violet let out a sigh before seemingly adding it to their itinerary. Alice sunk back into her own thoughts. Not caring about the 

Nicholas was born in Seoul to parents on a business trip. He could leave the country for South Korea anytime he wanted to. He looked over at Alice for a moment, winking as he looked back down at his own hands that tapped on his phone. He had been abducted as a child by his neighbors and lived there for eighteen years of his life but by the time people realized that he  _ was _ the missing kid from a few blocks over, his parents had died in a car accident. He had nowhere to go. But hopped from place to place, couchsurfing to stay alive while he saved up enough money to get into an apartment of his own. 

Adrian came from Greece. Alice had been told by him that he was an immortal gorgon which didn’t make any sense to her. She let him believe in the delusion for he had looked at her multiple times and he had not actually turned her into stone. 

Antonio had been in and out of jail not due to anything but bad luck. He was born to a coke addicted mother who died not too long after his mom died. Her dealer knocked her up and took Antonio in. He didn’t want anyone to know that he had actually been born to tht. Of course, they had all known he had been in jail. But that's besides the point. He had been too embarrassed to reveal what happened to his parents. 

The rest were a hodgepodge of people who were too embarrassed to tell each other that their parents were either addicted to drugs or weren’t in the picture. It’s not like the midwest  _ didn’t _ get his with the worst opioid epidemic...like, ever? But it wasn’t like they wanted to reveal that. 

Alice had been the bouncing off point for all of them at some point or another since freshman year of high school. She was the sounding board for all of them. Not like that she had been too agitated about it. She was more happy that they trusted her more than they trusted each other. The secret keeper of everyone in the group. She looked up at her friends who all got too close to the dying fire to keep warm. 

The air was thick and bugs hummed as a pink glow came over all of them. The warm chattering of everyone had made the bugs seem more like humans to Alice than the humans were. She rested back on the log that sat behind her. She smiled up at the full moon. The bugs swarmed around her though she didn’t mind all that much. 

“Alice,” Violet called. Alice’s head snapped up. “What?”

The group had gone quiet. Violet’s own finger pointed up at Alice’s room. A tall, thin, dark figure stood in front of the window. 

“Who the fuck is that?”


End file.
